Every week the challenge of the diary presents itself with ineluctable, certainty. Well, I was glad that the Saints won against all odds, and I mean they won; they were the best in the field without any doubt. I for one was skeptical. It is great news for New Orleans, the afflicted capital of the south and environs. Besides, they have stronger Catholic ties than their opponents, if for no other reason. The victory brought so much joy to so many people. The adorable little baby (Quarterback’s first son) being lifted in the air seemed to summarize the renewed spirit of that city.
I read with a smirk that only three fans turned up at the airport to welcome the Colts. Manning was so mad that he bolted out of the field without shaking hands. This year superbowl was the most watched event in television history. Broke all records.
So it is Carnival Time in the Big Easy for as long as the eye can see. While we prepare for Lent. Last week we heard that the Archdiocese is going to close and amalgamate three schools in down Manhattan. I was surprised to see on NY1 the protest organized by the parents (of St. James) and saying that they are going to continue to resist the amalgamation of St. James with St. Joseph. Having been through this process myself and still bearing the emotional scars of those days, I don’t frankly understand protesters. They must be living in a different world, full of entitlements, where money grows on trees. Do they know how many millions this Archdiocese keeps pouring into education every year? And when is enough enough? Anyone that has taken a dispassionate look at the sprawling educational system of the Archdiocese says (including me) that it is ripe for restructuring and rationalization before it all comes tumbling down financially. There are oases of excellence and areas of mediocrity needing remediation and change. Protest and resistance to change will do nothing to improve the Catholic Schools.
The future of Catholic Schools is a very delicate subject as the Archbishop says in his letter and a complex one. In my humble opinion also one of the most pressing emergencies facing our Archdiocese. I was talking on the phone to an eminent professor in Education who teaches in Manhattanville College this very week, (she lives in our parish) well connected and experienced with Catholic Schools, and she said to me that if the Archdiocese sees as its educational role to teach exclusively minorities and run schools where tuition is three thousand dollars a year and being handicapped by all the bad habits of public schools they will eventually come to a screeching halt. The real future (as she saw it) is in transforming the Catholic Schools in community schools, where children from the local community come to school. That will mean better education, fully qualified and well paid teachers. Realistic tuitions!! She thinks that Catholic Education is still a valuable and precious commodity and people would pay for it if it could be delivered. Well, that is one person’s opinion (a competent one, may I say) and I am sure the Archbishops has already heard it many times over. He has also heard the voice of pastors complaining that the schools are sucking up too much money out of their churches. I heard it too and you cannot blame them. I was in that position myself until two years ago. So the present system seems blighted by lack of money and the future seems risky and controversial.
The day Catholic Education comes to an end, it will be the severest possible blow to the Catholic Faith in this country. We ought to do the possible & the impossible to keep Catholic Education alive. We should welcome and support any effort by the Archdiocese to come out of this impasse and strategize a better future.
I make this comment because if you came to Mass this past week you would have heard me saying prayers for the success of Catholic Schools. It was their week!!
Finally. I like the story of St. Scholastica, sister of St. Benedict. The feast day was Feb 10. She went to visit her brother. They both got into deep and enjoyable conversation about God and it came evening; the brother said you’d better go back to your convent. She put down her head for a moment. She prayed to be allowed to talk longer with her brother; God rewarded her with a lightning storm that forced the siblings to spend the night together in spiritual conversation. Three days later Scholastica died, Benedict saw a dove rising to heaven.
Another Catholic legend? Hardly. “Almost everything we know about Saint Scholastica comes from the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great.” Gregory is a Doctor of the Church, one of the great Catholics in all of history, and he was born (540 AD) three years before the death of St. Scholastica. Gregory was born in Rome, about 90 miles from the place of Scholastica’s death in or near Montecassino, site of Benedict’s first monastery. Montecassino is on a road south from Rome, effectively en route to Sicily, where Gregory’s father had extensive land holdings. Gregory himself became a Benedictine monk and abbot before becoming Pope. If the final days of St. Scholastica are “only legend,” they are more like a family story told by one generation, who saw the events, to the next generation, eager to learn—young and impressionable maybe, but hardly gullible or stupid. Witnesses testified that when Joan of Arc died at the stake about 900 years after Scholastica’s death, a dove flew out of the flames. Another legend? Hardly. No life of a saint is more documented than Joan’s.
